Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act of 2011

Floor Speech

Ms. MOORE. Madam Chair, my amendment would simply require that the President certify that this bill will not have an adverse effect on the health of Americans. It would specifically and additionally ensure that the legislation would not result in a disproportionately adverse impact on at-risk subpopulations.

I would submit that the majority should be enthused about my amendment to require the President to certify that the delay of cement kiln standards won't harm the public health of Americans and have this disproportionate adverse impact. This is since we have heard all day the majority speak of how the majority of mercury, for example, comes from natural sources, that it comes from foreign sources from the Pacific to the Mississippi, and that the dangers of mercury should not be unfairly burdened and blamed on cement kilns.

This Presidential certification would allow them to rebut those assertions. This Presidential certification would allow them to rebut that cement kilns are the second-largest source of airborne mercury pollution in the United States or that mercury is a powerful neurotoxin that can affect the mental development of children.

Since this majority has questioned the methodology of the EPA findings using OMB standards, the assumptions, they should welcome this Presidential finding to rebut the assertion that EPA has made that cement kilns also emit lead, arsenic, and other toxic metals that could be carcinogenic and seriously dangerous.

We do know that, throughout the history of the Clean Air Act, we have seen tremendous benefits in quality of life for Americans. Under the Clean Air Act, the individual emissions of carcinogens and other highly toxic chemicals have been reduced by 1.7 million tons each year through actions taken, voluntarily in many cases, by more than 170 industries. The health benefits just keep adding up, and they've been tremendously important. In 2010, the reductions in fine particles and ozone pollution from the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments prevented more than 160,000 cases of premature mortality, 130,000 heart attacks, 13 million lost workdays, and 1.7 million asthma attacks.

But there is so much more work to be done.

This neurotoxin is widespread in our Nation's waterways. Currently, 48 States have issued fish consumption advisories due to mercury contamination, including 23 States that have issued Statewide advisories for all of their lakes and rivers. My district, of course, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is located on one of the Great Lakes, which is a major resource for my community, for the region and, indeed, for the world, and it has been subject to large amounts of mercury contamination from airborne pollutants.

I would certainly be interested in a Presidential certification and in the assurance that the delay of this bill would not have an adverse impact on my constituents. The Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Mercury Emissions Reduction Strategy compiled mercury emissions data for the eight Great Lakes States and found that, in 2005, Portland cement plants in these States emitted 1.4 tons of mercury, which is roughly 4 percent of the total of 34.9 tons.

I would be immensely, Madam Chair, interested in a certification by the President of the United States that indeed, indeed, this mercury contamination was not caused by these cement kilns but, instead, was caused by natural causes or from foreign sources. This, I think, would vindicate those who are trying to delay this process, and it would work toward advancing their theory that economic development should not be hindered by untoward, unproven health concerns.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

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